JULY-AUGUST, 2014. VOL. II/XIII www.srjis.com Page 1843 SELF-CONCEPT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF ADOLESCENT BOYS
AND GIRLS IN SRINAGAR
Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Kashmir, J&K, India
Yashpal D Netragaonkar,Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Abhinav College of Education Pune
The study was conducted to compare the self concept and academic achievement of
adolescent boys and girls in Srinagar, J&K (India). The sample of the study consisted of 100
adolescent students (50 boys and 50 girls) the sample was selected from different schools of
Srinagar by adapting the simple random technique. The investigators used Sagar Sharma`s
Self Concept Inventory to assess the self concept of the sample subjects. The tool which was
used by the investigators is highly valid and reliable. The academic achievement of previous
two years of sample subjects was collected from the official records of their respective
schools. The study revealed that the adolescent boys have better self concept than the adolescent
girls. No significant difference was found between boys and girls so far as their academic
achievement are concerned.
Keywords: self concept, academic achievement, adolescent, boys and girls
Introduction
Self-concept is also called self-construction, self-identity or self-perspective. It is a
multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to
any characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics’s), gender roles and
sexuality, racial identity, and many others. Each of these characteristics is a research domain
(i.e. Academic Self-Concept) within the larger spectrum of self-concept although no
characteristics exist in isolation as one’s self-concept is a collection of beliefs about Scholarly Research Journal's is licensed Based on a work at www.srjis.com 4.194, 2013 SJIF© SRJIS2014
JULY-AUGUST, 2014. VOL. II/XIII www.srjis.com Page 1844 oneself. While closely related with self-concept clarity (which "refers to the extent to
which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally
stable"), it presupposes but it is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is simply an
individual's awareness of their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is the
purely evaluative element of the self-concept.
The self-concept is an internal model which comprises self-assessments. Features
assessed include but are not limited to: personality, skills and abilities, occupation(s) and
hobbies, physical characteristics, etc. For example, the statement "I am lazy" is a
self-assessment that contributes to the self-concept. However, the statement "I am tired" would
not be part of someone's self-concept, since being tired is a temporary state and a more
objective judgment. A person's self-concept may change with time as reassessment occurs,
which in extreme cases can lead to identity crises.
Another model of concept contains three parts: esteem, stability, and
self-efficacy. Self-esteem is the "evaluative" component it is where one makes judgments about
his or her self-worth. Stability refers to the organization and continuity of one's self-concept.
Is it constantly in flux? Can singular, relatively trivial events drastically affect your
self-esteem? The third element, self-efficacy, is best explained as self-confidence. It is
specifically connected with one's abilities, unlike self-esteem.
The students may be at different levels of achievement in different subject areas.
Therefore, achievement is the learning outcome of students in classrooms. A level of
achievement in academic fields includes the performance of students.
Borncl and Montrsre K. (2004) found that there is a significant difference between
male and female students in mental health and academic achievements. Students from small
families have higher mental health and academic achievement than students from large
families.
Today’s self-esteem, as one of the influential factors that affects students academic
achievement, has received increasing attention. It has been declared that high self-esteem can
lead to high academic achievement. The Self-esteem can be referred to as a person's global
judgments of competency regarding one's self-worth (Harter, 1988). This construct emerges
when children compare their self-evaluation with actual performance on a variety of tasks.
Moreover, this comparison between the perceived self and the ideal self is very crucial
especially during adolescence because of the challenges typical of that age. Hence,
development of self-esteem is considered as one of the most important developmental
JULY-AUGUST, 2014. VOL. II/XIII www.srjis.com Page 1845 SAMPLE: The sample for the present study consisted of 100 secondary school adolescents (50 boys
and 50 girls) from ten higher secondary schools of Srinagar.
The breakup of the sample is as under:
Group N Total
Adolescent Boys 50 50
Adolescent Girls 50 50
Total 100
Data Collection Instrument: The data for the present study was collected using the
self-concept inventory, Real Self and Ideal Self by Sagar and Sharma (2003).
Procedure : In order to collect the information the investigator visited various secondary schools
Srinagar . The investigator administered the self-concept inventory to 100 students (50 boys and
50 girls) to assess their self concept. The academic achievement of the previous two years of the
sample subjects was collected from official records from the schools.
STATISTICAL TREATMENT
The data collected was subjected to the following statistical treatment.
Mean, S.D., and t-test was used to find the significant difference between boys and girls on self
concept and academic achievement.
[image:3.595.81.516.428.574.2]ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
Table 1.1: Showing the Mean Comparison of Adolescent Boys and Girls
Students on Ideal Self Dimension of Self concept (N= 50 in each group)
Level of
Significance t- value
S.D Mean
N Group
Significant at 0.01 Level 3.37
5.4 165
50 Boys
3.2 162
50 Girls
Table 1.1 shows the mean comparison of adolescent boys and girls on the Ideal
Self-dimension of the self-concept inventory. The calculated t-value (3.37) is greater than the
tabulated t-value at 0.01 level of significance. This indicates that there is a significant
difference between adolescent boys and girls on the Ideal Self of the Self-concept inventory.
JULY-AUGUST, 2014. VOL. II/XIII www.srjis.com Page 1846
Table 1.2: Showing the Mean Comparison of Adolescent Boys and Girls
on Real Self Dimension of the Self concept Inventory (N= 50 in each
group)
Level of
Significance t- value S.D Mean N Group
Significant at 0.01 Level 4.5 4.47 167 50 Boys 4.40 163 50 Girls
Table 1.2 shows the mean comparison of adolescent boys and girls on the self
dimension of self concept inventory. The calculated t-value (4.5) is greater than the tabulated
t-value at 0.01 level of significance, which indicates that there is a significant difference
between adolescent boys and girls on the Real self of theSelf concept inventory. The above
result clarifies that adolescent boys have better Real self than adolescent girls.
Table 1.3: The Mean Comparison of Adolescent Boys and Girls Students on Self concept
Level of Significance t- value S.D Mean N Group
Significant at 0.01 Level 3.94 4.816 168 50 Boys 4.024 164.5 50 Girls
Table 1.3 shows the mean comparison of adolescent boys and girls school on the Self
Concept Inventory. The calculated t-value (3.94) is greater than the tabulated t-value at 0.01
level of significance, which indicates that there is a significant difference between adolescent
boys and girls on the Self Concept Inventory. The above result clarifies that adolescent boys
have a better Self Concept than adolescent girls.
Table 1.4: The Mean Adolescent Comparison of Boys and Girls on Academic
Achievement (N= 50 in each group)
Level of significance t-value S.D Mean N Group In Significant 0.643 7.01 66.96 50 Boys 7.41 67.61 50 Girls
Table 1.4 shows the mean comparison of Boys and Girls on academic achievement.
The table reveals that there is no significant mean difference between adolescent boys and
[image:4.595.69.530.224.693.2]JULY-AUGUST, 2014. VOL. II/XIII www.srjis.com Page 1847 academic achievement. Though the mean difference favoured girls but the difference failed to
arrive at any level of confidence.
CONCLUSIONS
The following are some of the conclusions drawn from the present study:.
1. It was found that adolescent boys and girls differ significantly on the ideal self dimension
of the Self Concept inventory. The adolescent boys had better ideal self than the adolescent girls.
2. It was found that adolescent boys and girls differ significantly on real the self dimension of
the Self Concept Inventory. The adolescent boys had better real self than the adolescent girls.
3. It was found that adolescent boys and girls differ significantly on the overall dimensions of
the Self Concept Inventory. The adolescent boys had a better self concept than the adolescent girls.
4. It was found that there is no significant difference between adolescent boys and girls on
academic achievement.
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